The Motivator: Mallory Brown

Brown working with women in Chapa, Ethiopia, during a 2016 fundraiser.

Mallory Brown, 30, has always been happiest living out of her backpack. After studying economics and management in college, she took time to trek through Southeast Asia and South America. The more she traveled, the more she wanted to find a way to connect her wanderlust to her skill set. That led her to founding a company that provides clothes to people in need as well as consulting with global charities. “I thought that I could use my training, resources, and access to connect businesses and donors with people who need help,” she says. In January 2015, she traveled to Haiti to deliver clothing to people still affected by the devastating 2010 earthquake. While there, she launched her first “flash fundraiser”— a campaign in which the goal amount had to be earned in 24 hours and distributed in another day. Brown used the fundraising site CrowdRise to make it happen. The campaign raised $10,954, more than double her goal. The money helped move one displaced family into a new home and enroll the children in schools. That success impressed CrowdRise’s CEO Robert Wolfe, who brought her on board as a partner. She and CrowdRise now run 24-hour challenges for philanthropic efforts around the world, which have included Mexico (for education), Nepal (for disaster relief), Las Vegas (to combat homelessness), and Greece (to support Syrian refugees). “It’s a ton of work, but the wonderful and challenging part of crowdfunding is that there’s no barrier to entry,” she says. “It’s open to everyone.”

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Brown views her Crowdrise page with a group in Ethiopia. She raised $41,966 to create jobs and provide wages for 30 women.

Success Secret: “Just because you’re really passionate about something doesn’t mean the rest of the world will be,” Brown says. To create an emotional connection with her donors, she creates personalized video shout-outs while she’s traveling that show how the money she raises is being used. “People I’ve done that for become repeat donors and give to my next campaign,” she says. “They have a sense that their money made a difference.”

The Fashion Plate: Blythe Hill

In 2009, Blythe Hill was an uninspired grad-school student with little time to pursue her side interest in fashion. So she created a style challenge: Wear a dress (not necessarily the same one) every day for a month. She thought it would be a silly, one-off thing — until friends and even strangers asked to join. “By the third year, I started dreaming about what more it could be,” Hill says. Inspired by Movember, the mustache-growing challenge that supports men’s health, she focused on human trafficking, a cause Hill is passionate about. The response was beyond positive. Dressember partners with anti-trafficking organizations International Justice Mission and the A21 Campaign to fund rescue operations and survivors’ recovery. “I didn’t [take] the conventional path to engage on this issue,” Hill says. “What I created was a fun way to have a significant impact.”

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Success Secret: Build partnerships with like-minded orgs to expand your impact. Hill partners with a company each year to create a Dressember dress collection, sewn by women in Nepal rescued from sex trafficking. They get fair wages, and donors get a new outfit for their challenge.

The Romantics: Bea and Leach Koch

Sisters Bea, 27, and Leah Koch, 24, love romance novels and were sure they wanted to start a business together. But in 2015, when they decided to open the nation’s first romance-only bookstore, in Los Angeles, they had no idea how to get the $90,000 needed for inventory, equipment, furniture, licensing, and more. Then they hit on the idea of crowdfunding. “Kickstarter is an amazing tool for people who are not the typical recipient of a traditional bank loan for whatever reason,” Leah says. “For us, it was our age, experience level, and gender.” They hired Sabrina Dax, a publicist in Seattle, who told them to build a solid following on Twitter before launching their campaign. The sisters also used some of their savings to hire an illustrator who created a strong, consistent look for their logo lettering and rewards merch, which included tote bags and tops. The Ripped Bodice opened its doors last March and now sponsors a book club, signings, and a monthly stand-up show called Romantic Comedy, hosted by two female comedians. “Seeing this community start to form is unbelievable,” Leah says.

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Success Secret: Seek out practical advice from successful founders, say the sisters. “We sent booksellers a list of questions like, ‘What insurance company do you use? Do you like them? How many distributors do you have?’” Leah says. “Do not send an email that says, ‘Hello, can you give me advice?’ You will get a reply saying, ‘You got this. All your dreams are possible!’” Vague asks get vague answers.

The AV Team: Victoria Hu and Wenqing Yan

Hu and Yan (left) raised more than $2 million in less than one month and eventually got about 24,000 preorders for their product.

Victoria Hu and Wenqing Yan were a match made in college. Hu, an econ major, dreamed of working on a startup, and Yan, an artist, had a loyal fanbase online. After graduating from UC Berkeley, they decided to bring one of Yan’s popular sketches, a pair of LED cat-ear headphones, to life. A year before their campaign launched, they sent emails and social-media blasts to family, friends, and Yan’s 300,000-plus fans. They made prototypes on 3-D printing machines at their alma mater, then turned to Indiegogo, also using savings and family loans to get a patent lawyer, build a website, and hire friends as needed. Yan went to China to screen factories (one of their most daunting tasks), but when gadget chain Brookstone offered to become the official manufacturer and distributor of their product, they signed on the dotted line. “Crowdfunding is a lot of fun but also a lot of responsibility,” Yan says. “You can’t do it alone, so pick your partners wisely.”

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